Gay Friends Research Articles

About The Artist: Hugo Cataldo Barudi

About The Artist:Hugo Cataldo Barudi Dr. Eva Karene Romero, Art Editor and Hugo Cataldo Barudi Hugo Cataldo Barudi (Asunción, 1978) is an artist and director working in Asunción, Paraguay. He is the current President of the Organización de Profesionales del Audiovisual Paraguayo (OPRAP), which could be described as the Paraguayan Director’s Guild. He is also the owner of Ficticia, a production company specializing in feature film development, film and TV production services. In this interview we talk about his digital art, painting and drawing, (the Monsters series, the Punto húmedo series, the Frida series and its reception), his last feature-length film on sexual deviance, (Semana capital, 2010), his next feature-length film on innocence in love (La chiperita, 2015), and filmmaking in contemporary Paraguay. This volume of the Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies features works of art from the Frida series; a series that began as strictly digital variations on the theme of iconic images of Frida Kahlo, yet quickly moved beyond that as art collectors requested prints and later painted versions. Once Cataldo began producing the painted adaptations of these digital originals, demand for the pieces exploded. In this interview Cataldo speaks a little about the sometimes ironic implications of this situation in terms of the market’s treatments of pieces qualified as “originals” versus “copies.” This interview took place in July 2013. More of Cataldo’s selected digital art can be seen here: http://hugocataldo.blogspot.com/ A Word with Cataldo EKR: Hugo, I presented some of my work on Semana capital (2010) at the Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) conference in Chicago, and the question I couldn’t answer was: How did the gay community respond to Semana capital? HCB: I don’t know how to answer that question, either. The gay community doesn’t really exist here. It’s very fragmented. It’s the same as if you talk about a syndicate of producers. They aren’t organized yet, so it doesn’t exist. You can see a lot of happy-go-lucky, proud and out people, but there isn’t a community. There is PARAGAY (NGO), which is an association that organizes the Besatón every year around gay pride week, where [End Page 7] they go to congress and start kissing. So that’s what I know, but most of my gay friends aren’t really political. I know more political lesbians than political gay men. What I got from some people—not necessarily gay people—that really surprised me, was if I have something against men in general, and why do I mistreat men in the film. And I find that so interesting because I didn’t do that. Well, I did, but I didn’t. Because most of the stories were created by the actors thinking they were writing for the opposite sex. So you get really strong females, which were roles written for men originally, and then you have the opposite. EKR: So am I understanding this correctly? You wrote roles for a man or a woman and then you switched them? HCB: That’s why we, the actors, had seven weeks of training. Muy lúdico fue. Veníamos a las reuniones y yo les decía “Tengo esta historia. Esta historia se va a basar en la gula, pero va a ser de una pareja”—no se sabía si era hombre y mujer todavía—“Uno es un bulímico que come en el baño y el otro o la otra, en vez de darle asco eso, le gusta.” Entonces, “¿¿Qué??” decían los actores, “¡Me encanta!” Para ellos era un placer. Bueno, entonces yo les decía, “Eva, escribí un personaje para Hugo pero basándote en el bulímico. Pero vos le describís como vos querés al bulímico, con toda su personalidad en primera persona…” Entonces escribía Eva, “Hola. Me llamo Roberto y tengo 24 años. Tengo este problema…” y sobre su relación con el otro personaje, etc. Y después yo escribía uno para Eva; “Eva es tal cosa, Eva es así asá.” Y después yo...

Modelos Predictivos de Homonegatividad Internalizada en Estudiantes de Ciencias de la Salud

The aims of this paper were to describe and predict the level of internalized homonegativity, considering variables on socio-demographic data, sexual life, social life, and clinic aspects. An interview questionnaire and the Internalized Homonegativity Scale were applied to a non-probability sample of 231 students of health sciences; 121 were women and 103 men. Ordinal regression models were calculated._Low internalized homonegativity was found in 38% of participants, ambiguity in 45%, and rejection in 17%. The HNI-16 total score correlated with sexual orientation, religion, and having gay friends. The factor of rejection toward the public manifestation of homosexuality correlated with having gay friends, gender, self-defined sexual orientation, religion, and number of sexual partners. The factor of rejection toward own homosexual feelings, desires, and identity correlated with self-defined sexual orientation, religion, number of sexual partners, and sexually active years. The factor related to the qualification of homosexual persons as promiscuous persons correlated with self-defined sexual orientation, having started couple sexual life, religion, and sexually active years. The variables that predicted lower internalized homonegativity were non-heterosexual orientation, religious adscription different from Christian and Catholic, and having gay friends. Additionally, female gender predicted greater acceptance toward the public manifestation of homosexuality, and having started couple sexual life predicted greater stigmatization of homosexuals as promiscuous persons. It is discussed that in these relationships are involved aspects of congruence with constructed personal identity, positive experience with the stigmatized object, and a cultural attitude that stigmatizes male homosexuality more than female homosexuality. Among these university students, once they have started their couple sexual life, their greater certainty on the opinion of that homosexual persons are promiscuous and incapable of intimacy might respond to a projective defense mechanism triggered by heterosexist values, which put sexuality at the service of reproduction and parenting, and not at the service of experimentation and pleasure. It is concluded that the rejection level is considerable, and thus it is suggested working on these variables in the workshops of acceptance toward sexual diversity.

To Know You is Not Necessarily to Love You: The Partisan Mediators of Intergroup Contact

We propose the contact–cue interaction approach to studying political contact—that cues from trusted political elites can moderate the effect of contact on the formation of public policy opinions. Allport’s initial formulation of the contact effect noted that it relies on authority support. In a highly polarized political era, authoritative voices for individuals vary based on party identification. Social experiences may affect public policy, but they must also be considered in light of partisan filters. Using data from the 2006 CCES, we examine the manner in which straight respondents with gay family members, friends, co-workers and acquaintances view same-sex marriage policy, finding a strong contact effect among Democrats, but no contact effect among the strongest Republican identifiers. Our data and analyses strongly support the perspective that social interactions (and their effect on policy) are understood through the lens of partisanship and elite cues.

Christian Social Work Students' Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men: Religious Teachings, Religiosity, and Contact

This study explores religious teachings about same-sex sexuality, religiosity, and contact with gay, lesbian, or bisexual (GLB) friends on attitudes toward lesbians and gay men among Catholic and Protestant social work students. Data from a convenience sample (n = 383) from four universities were analyzed. Hierarchical multiple regression results indicate that age, Protestant religious affiliation, religiosity, religious message about homosexuality, contact with GLB, and the cross product of religiosity and religious message were significant. The adjusted analysis for the latter variable indicates that those exposed to more accepting messages reported less bias, and the effect of antigay messages was greatest among highly religious students.

Willingness to Use the Oral Fluid HIV Rapid Test among Men Who Have Sex with Men in Beijing, China

BackgroundEarly detection of HIV infection enables timely care and treatment. However, many men who have sex with men (MSM) remain unaware of their HIV status because they do not or are unable to access HIV testing services. Oral fluid HIV rapid tests have the potential to increase HIV testing. This study is the first to evaluate willingness to use the oral fluid test among MSM in China.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted in Beijing from July to October, 2012. Data were collected by self-administered questionnaires.ResultsOf 262 who participated in the survey, 223(85.1%) reported that they were willing to use the oral fluid HIV rapid test. Willingness to use the oral fluid test was associated with higher education (adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 2.40, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.13–5.10), lack of unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) with male partners in the past one month (AOR: 2.38; 95% 95%CI: 1.15–4.95), having taken more than 4 HIV tests (AOR: 3.54; 95%CI:1.52–8.28), and having ever heard of the oral fluid HIV rapid test from gay friends or gay organizations (AOR: 3.24, 95%CI: 1.40–7.51). Among those who expressed willingness to use the oral fluid HIV rapid test, the median amount of money they were willing to pay was 8 dollars. Among the 39 participants who were unwilling to use the oral fluid test, 79.5% (31/39) expressed concerns about the accuracy of the oral fluid HIV rapid test results and 17.9%(7/39) reported that they were not familiar with the oral fluid test and did not know how to use such a test.ConclusionsA high proportion of MSM in Beijing appear to be willing to use the oral fluid HIV rapid test. Appropriate cost and education measures could help improve acceptance of the oral fluid test.

The Intertextual Suttree : Walker Percy, Cummings, and Community

Cormac McCarthy's novel Suttree has perhaps more intertextual references than any other of his works. They serve as metaphorical hyperlinks that make use of literary shorthand to develop and signify themes, motifs, and meaning. At times these allusions are somewhat obscure; characters don't speak lines from Waste Land and then attribute them to Eliot. We are instead introduced to a city constructed on no known paradigm (3) and shown the filthy river with its trash and suicides, and once even a dead baby. In addition to these allusions to Eliot's Unreal City and Madame Sosostris's admonition to fear death by water (55), we also have subtle references to the Fisher King legend (Shelton 74) and to the rats' alley / Where the dead men lost their bones (115-116). As Vereen Bell points out, the novel also contains references and quotations from Auden, Cummings, Frost, and Faulkner (106). To that list I believe we can add Longfellow (457), Shakespeare's King Lear (366), and Steinbeck's Cannery Row. Perhaps the most significant of these intertextual riffs are Suttree's repeated references to Walker Percy's 1966 novel The Last Gentleman and E.E. Cummings's poem Just. As his use of Waste Land makes clear, McCarthy employs these references and quotations as kinds of thematic signposts, meant to help steer the more astute readers in the right direction, much as a jazz saxophonist will quote earlier interpretations of songs in order to demonstrate his own take on a particular standard. Similarly, McCarthy's quoting of The Last Gentleman throughout the novel constitutes a kind of shorthand that does not accomplish the introduction of complex themes so much as it furthers the complication of already present themes. Given McCarthy's reluctance to discuss either his work or his life, it cannot be stated with certainty that McCarthy has read Percy. However, the assumption that McCarthy read The Last Gentleman during the twenty years he presumably spent working on Suttree is not a risky one. Even as a lapsed Catholic, he must have been aware of Percy after the famously Catholic Mississippi native won the National Book Award in 1962 for his first novel, The Moviegoer. It would be wrong to suggest that McCarthy serves as any kind of ephebe to Percy in the way he might be considered an heir apparent to, say, Faulkner in his earlier works and Hemingway in his latter ones. Instead, McCarthy's repeated references to Percy's novel in turn suggest the seemingly contradictory philosophies of existentialism and Christianity and draws upon the Kierkegaardian reconciliation of those philosophies. Criticism by Bell, William Prather, and Frank Shelton has been dedicated to the existentialist dimensions of Suttree. At the same time, the novel makes persistent and effective use of Christian--particularly Catholic--symbolism. In contrast to the prevailing view, I believe that McCarthy is not espousing existentialism in Suttree any more than he is arguing in favor of Christianity. From McCarthy's point of view, walking too far down the slippery slope of existentialism can lead to suicide and death, as demonstrated by Sartre and Camus. Rather than retreat into the safe strictures of organized Catholic dogma or dally along the precipice of existentialism, Cornelius Suttree must find a balanced middle path between the two that leads to life rather than death. The most overt references to Percy occur in the use of certain names in Suttree. Critics like Richard Marius have pointed out that Suttree's name may be derived from the nineteenth century East Tennessee humorous Sut Lovingood created by George Washington Harris (4). However, the name Suttree seems instead to be an anagram for Sutter, the elder Vaught son in The Last Gentleman, whom the protagonist Will Barrett chooses as a kind of mentor figure and who, in turn, is possibly saved by Will. Suttree's black and ageless androgyne gay friend, Trippin Through the Dew, tells Suttree in an encounter late in the novel about his visit with the infamous Lexington transvestite Sweet Evening Breeze. …

Dyadic, Partner, and Social Network Influences on Intimate Partner Violence among Male-Male Couples

Introduction: Despite a recent focus on intimate partner violence (IPV) among men who have sex with men (MSM), the male-male couple is largely absent from the IPV literature. Specifically, research on dyadic factors shaping IPV in male-male couples is lacking.Methods: We took a subsample of 403 gay/bisexual men with main partners from a 2011 survey of approximately 1,000 gay and bisexual men from Atlanta. Logistic regression models of recent (<12 month) experience and perpetration of physical and sexual IPV examined dyadic factors, including racial differences, age differences, and social network characteristics of couples as key covariates shaping the reporting of IPV.Results: Findings indicate that men were more likely to report perpetration of physical violence if they were a different race to their main partner, whereas main partner age was associated with decreased reporting of physical violence. Having social networks that contained more gay friends was associated with significant reductions in the reporting of IPV, whereas having social networks comprised of sex partners or closeted gay friends was associated with increased reporting of IPV victimization and perpetration.Conclusion: The results point to several unique factors shaping the reporting of IPV within male-male couples and highlight the need for intervention efforts and prevention programs that focus on male couples, a group largely absent from both research and prevention efforts.

Sexual Orientation Disclosure to Health Care Providers Among Urban and Non-Urban Southern Lesbians

Concerns regarding sexual orientation disclosure to health care providers have been suggested as a barrier to care which may account for documented differences in the health care utilization of lesbians relative to heterosexual women. This study explored the correlates of sexual orientation disclosure to health care providers among 934 lesbian women living in urban and non-urban areas of the South. Psychosocial resources, such as self-esteem, social support, and mastery, along with several lesbian-specific experiences (proportion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender friends, access to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender community, degree of being “out”), were all independently associated with greater likelihood of having disclosed to a health care provider. Internalized homophobia and lesbian-related stigma decreased the likelihood of disclosure. Lesbians living in non-urban areas were significantly less likely to have disclosed than women in urban areas, suggesting that disclosure may present a special concern for populations in non-urban areas.

Internalised homonegativity predicts HIV-associated risk behavior in European men who have sex with men in a 38-country cross-sectional study: some public health implications of homophobia

ObjectivesInternalised homonegativity (IH) is hypothesised to be associated with HIV risk behaviour and HIV testing in men who have sex with men (MSM). We sought to determine the social and...

Prejudice Against Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Coaches: The Influence of Race, Religious Fundamentalism, Modern Sexism, and Contact with Sexual Minorities

In drawing from Herek’s (2007, 2009) sexual stigma and prejudice theory, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among prejudice toward sexual minority coaches, religious fundamentalism, sexism, and sexual prejudice and to determine whether race affected these relationships. The authors collected data from 238 parents. Results indicated that Asians expressed greater sexual prejudice than Latinos and Whites, while African Americans expressed more religious fundamentalism than did Whites. There were also differences in the associations among the variables. For African Americans, sexism held the strongest association with prejudice toward sexual minority coaches. While for Asians and Whites, religious fundamentalism held the strongest association, contact with lesbian and gay friends was a significant predictor of prejudice for Asians, but not for the other groups. For Latinos, both religious fundamentalism and sexism were associated with sexual prejudice. The authors discuss the results in terms of theoretical and practical implications.

Radical Normals: The Moral Career of Straight Parents as Public Advocates for Their Gay Children

Sociological research has examined straight parents in “traditional” family arrangements who become gay rights activists, but pays insufficient attention to how this puzzling identity comes into being. Drawn from observations and interviews of parents participating in a local chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) (2009 to 2010), this paper analyzes the parenting activities undertaken by straight parents of gay children as a moral career, involving stages of acceptance that can lead to eventual public advocacy. Paradoxically, these parents become radical normals through these stages; that is to say, they “do” the work of parenting by becoming gay rights advocates, motivated by commitments to conventional imperatives of loving and supporting a child. Using the conceptual scaffolding of the moral career, this paper identifies the mechanisms that move parents through these different career stages.

Evangelical Christian College Students and Attitudes Toward Gay Rights: A California University Sample

Research demonstrates that Evangelical Christians generally hold more negative attitudes toward gays and lesbians, and are less supportive of gay rights than the general U.S. population. To assess these attitudes, undergraduate students at an Evangelical Christian university in California (N = 319) completed the Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men (ATLG) scale (Herek, 1984, 1998) and other demographic and religiosity items. Results indicated that Evangelical Christian college students who are not homeschooled and know a gay or lesbian friend, relative, or acquaintance held significantly less negative attitudes toward gay rights than those who do not know a gay or lesbian person. Issues related to increasing respectful dialogue between groups are addressed.

The Moderating Effects of Contact with Lesbian and Gay Friends on the Relationships among Religious Fundamentalism, Sexism, and Sexual Prejudice

The purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which contact with lesbian and gay friends moderated the effects of religious fundamentalism and sexism on sexual prejudice. The authors gathered data from 269 heterosexual adults living in Texas. Results indicate that the effects of religious fundamentalism on sexual prejudice were reduced when contact was high. However, the positive association between modern sexism and sexual prejudice was not moderated by contact. The authors discuss theoretical and practical implications.

Segregation in Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Youth's Personal Networks: Testing Structural Constraint, Choice Homophily and Compartmentalization Hypotheses

Homophily promotes the development of social relationships within social groups and increases segregation across groups. Although prior research has demonstrated that network segregation operates in many dimensions such as race and gender, sexual orientation has received little attention. This study investigates what accounts for the segregation between gay, lesbian and bisexual friends and straight friends in GLB youth's personal networks by testing three possible underlying mechanisms - structural constraints, choice homophily and compartmentalization attempts. The analysis uses data collected from GLB youth who were becoming members of a community organization in Indiana from 1994 through 1998. Although the small, convenience sample does not allow generalization of the results, the rich network data provide important insights into personal network segregation in this unique social context. The results suggest that the segregation between GLB and straight friends result from structural constraints and friends' preference to interact within their groups, and that the focal GLB youth's effort to compartmentalize his or her sexual identity accounts little for the segregation.

Kampuchéa by Patrick Deville

that Samuel must face every day. As Wolf becomes progressively crueler in his treatment, Samuel finally rebels and liberates himself from this psychological captivity. Much of the novel also describes the hero’s personal life beyond his daily torment at the office. He is a charming and good-looking homosexual, and the reader is made privy to several episodes in his love life. We also learn a great deal about Samuel’s Jewish heritage, through numerous references to Jewish holidays and themes. Samuel is looking for a Messiah, and his sufferings at the hands of Wolf are described as a kind of Calvary. Two of the other protagonists are homosexual friends of Samuel’s, and they too suffer victimization in various ways. His sometime partner Arsène Bazarov, a former television actor, is pursued by the police and the tax office because of crimes committed by someone who stole his identity. Arsène is subjected to interrogations reminiscent of the Nazi and Stalinist regimes and suffers a nervous breakdown. Finally exonerated, he flees to his native Auvergne to find a refuge with his mother and salvage what is left of his sanity. The other gay friend is a new acquaintance from Canada named Freddy Comfort, whose company has transferred him to its Paris branch. Freddy is a philosopher of optimism whose aim is to promote goodwill among all people, from co-workers to the whole universe , through the power of joy, kindness, and positive thinking. He has given his doctrine a graphic representation in a ‘tree of well-being,’ in which one rises to higher levels of stress-free fulfillment. He constantly preaches to everyone he meets to ‘go with the flow.’ Unfortunately, most people think Freddy is crazy, including his French colleagues, and he too becomes a victim of persecution. Despite his credo, he is almost driven to suicide in desperation. Ester, the fourth protagonist, is a married woman with children but currently separated from her husband, a screenwriter who now stalks her. She comes to the aid of her friends, like Samuel, but must also turn to them when her own situation becomes unbearable . She too seeks refuge in escape, running away to Sweden where she finds solace in a lesbian relationship with Anna, Wolf’s sister. Her choice of Sweden as a last resort is appropriate, since several incidents in the novel are compared, either by the characters or the narrator, to similar occurrences in Ingmar Bergman’s films. Multiple references to other filmmakers and literary masters demonstrate that the author and his creations are well-read and avid cinema-goers. University of Denver James P. Gilroy DEVILLE, PATRICK. Kampuchéa. Paris: Seuil, 2011. ISBN 978-2-02-099207-7. Pp. 259. 20 a. Deville’s latest book takes its place next to Pura vida (2004) and Equatoria (2009) in what looks, for the moment at least, like a trilogy. The author calls Kampuchéa a novel, an appellation that is provocative in view of the fact that there is very little fiction here—if indeed there is any at all. Focusing upon Cambodia, roughly from Henri Mouhot’s “discovery” of the temples of Angkor Wat in 1860 to the present time, Deville offers a meditation on history, geography, politics, culture, and the way those categories necessarily overlap in a place which has always found itself precariously situated “entre l’enclume et le marteau” (187). The event that draws Deville there is the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, and especially the trial of Kang Kek Iew, or “Duch,” the first of five former Khmer Rouge leaders 412 FRENCH REVIEW 86.2 to be indicted, and who would be convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to thirty-five years in prison in July 2010. That trial provides Deville with his principal narrative thread, around which he weaves an impressive variety of other stories. That of the French Mekong Expedition in 1866–68, lead by Ernest Doudart de Lagrée and Francis Garnier, for instance; or that of Vann Nath, who survived the Khmer Rouge camps by painting portraits of Pol Pot; or that of Marie-Charles David de Mayréna, who declared himself King of Sedang in 1888; or...

Urban Students’ Attitudes About Sexual Minorities Across Intersections of Sex and Race/Ethnicity: Data From a Longitudinal Study

This study examined the association between having a gay or lesbian friend and urban students’ attitudes about sexual minorities. Results indicate that females were more likely than males to express supportive views about gays and lesbians. The contours of these sex differences were distinct by race/ethnicity. Black males and females differed more frequently in their views than did Whites or Latinos. Latino and Latina students expressed consistent views on sexual minorities with one exception: Latinas were nearly twice as likely as Latino males to say that they would remain close to a friend who came out as gay or lesbian.

Straight Allies: What Predicts Heterosexuals' Alliance With the LGBT Community?1

Despite their prominence in civil rights movements, out-group allies have been understudied. The current research examined out-group alliance, focusing on predictors of heterosexuals' advocacy for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights. Heterosexuals who were recruited through an online panel of research participants completed a survey containing measures of empathy, out-group contact, gender, education, and attitudes toward gays and lesbians. Additionally, participants indicated whether they had engaged in several allied behaviors (e.g., donating money for LGBT causes). Women, educated individuals, and those with gay and lesbian friends were more likely to be allies. Additionally, alliance was greatest among individuals lower in prejudice and simultaneously higher in positivity toward gays and lesbians. Implications regarding intergroup relations and future research are discussed.

Coming out for Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays: From support group grieving to love advocacy

This article traces how a 1990s’ US social movement organization, PFLAG (Parents, Friends and Family of Lesbians and Gays) constitutes itself and its work by extending the story of coming out via particular emotional promises featured in its motivational framing. I trace how PFLAG’s motivational framing carefully balances a call to participate in terms of grief with a call to action in terms of love, thereby offering potential participants the ‘emotional promise’ of getting beyond negative feelings of homophobia to restore and celebrate the love for their offspring. I show how this motivational framing is tied to PFLAG’s dual mission of support and advocacy. Finally I discuss how these emotional framings are tied to two political logics resonating in LGBT movement work at the time, noting that love operates well to motivate an identity logic (‘supporting LGBT people’) but does not work as well to motivate an interest-group logic (‘fighting for LGBT equality’).

Voices from the Margin: A Case Study of a Rural Lesbian's Experience with Woman-to-Woman Sexual Violence

The purpose of this case study is to understand how a lesbian survivor coped with traumatic stress resulting from woman-to-woman sexual violence in a rural context. This research was grounded on the feminist paradigm, and the case study approach was used for data collection and analysis. The results indicate that the lesbian survivor encountered numerous obstacles to admitting the rape and seeking help. A number of these perceived challenges were associated with the rural sociocultural context (e.g., conservative culture, religious fundamentalism, low levels of anonymity, small gay/lesbian communities, and geographical isolation), myths of lesbian utopia, a heterosexist legal system, and a lack of lesbian-friendly helping resources. Despite being confronted with numerous challenges, the survivor demonstrated her resilience through the use of a variety of strategies to cope with the rape aftermath and detrimental social reactions. Positive social support from her gay and lesbian friends also facilitated her recovery. The findings highlight the importance of considering the intersection of trauma and cultural oppression in understanding lesbian survivors’ experiences with same-sex sexual assault.

HIV Testing, Gay Community Involvement and Internet USE: Social and Behavioural Correlates of HIV Testing Among Australian Men Who have Sex with Men

A significant minority of Australian men who have sex with men (MSM) have never been tested for HIV and many men do not test as often as recommended. Using data from 1770 HIV-negative and untested MSM collected in a national, online survey, we compared men who had never tested for HIV with those who had tested over 12 months ago and men who had tested over 12 months ago with those that had tested in the past year. Two multivariate logistic regression models were constructed. Compared with men tested over 12 months ago, untested men were younger, less educated, less likely to have unprotected anal intercourse with a regular male partner, less likely to have sought advice from a doctor, nurse or community organisation, more likely to expect HIV-negative disclosure, had fewer gay friends and spent more time using social networking websites. Compared with men who had tested over 12 months ago, men who had tested within the last year were younger, more likely to expect HIV-negative disclosure and disclose to casual partners, more likely to have sought advice from a doctor or nurse, had attended gay pools, gyms or beaches and had more gay friends and more male sex partners. Our findings suggest that the Internet and sex education in schools are important ways to promote HIV testing to untested MSM. Testing reinforcement messages delivered through gay community outreach and primary care will reach previously tested MSM.